People scamming Amazon by returning old routers

[maxbraketorque]

I've been purchasing Amazon used RT-AX86U Pros to replace my remaining two EOL'ed AC86U's and to replace my BIL's EOL'ed AX68U. I figured that with the AX86U Pro form-factor matching that of many other ASUS routers, there was a chance that a used unit would be something other than an AX86U Pro, and it finally happened on my third purchase.

Opened the box to find an AC86U inside. Label on the back says it was made in 2020.

 

[Twiglets]

For information:

This is not necessarily Amazon being scammed by customers.

There has been a spate of issues with people receiving the 'wrong' items from Amazon, either the item has been replaced with something completely different or the box contains the wrong item.

All returns are checked by Amazon before being resold as 'Warehouse deals', yet I managed to get from Amazon an 'old' version of a Trackball mouse that was in the box of a new version.
The serial numbers & product ids mis-matched those on the box and the buttons were worn/scratched.

I suspect that someone within Amazon has been replacing items in the boxes with 'Damaged returns' and 'spiriting away' the new items.

 

[reefer123]

↑ agree Amazon made a few mistakes with my orders ... so ...
only good thing is that they are easy to deal with ...

 

[maxbraketorque]

For information:

This is not necessarily Amazon being scammed by customers.

There has been a spate of issues with people receiving the 'wrong' items from Amazon, either the item has been replaced with something completely different or the box contains the wrong item.

All returns are checked by Amazon before being resold as 'Warehouse deals', yet I managed to get from Amazon an 'old' version of a Trackball mouse that was in the box of a new version.
The serial numbers & product ids mis-matched those on the box and the buttons were worn/scratched.

I suspect that someone within Amazon has been replacing items in the boxes with 'Damaged returns' and 'spiriting away' the new items.

Interesting. It seems that the scenario you describe could only happen with previously returned items. There shouldn't be any 4-year old AC86Us lying around at Amazon, so someone would have to be smuggling in old stuff. The AC86U power supply was also switched out with the AX86U Pro power supply (the PSs are physically different and have different DC output voltage). The AC86U PS still had the protective plastic wrap which interesting. And now that I think about it, the plastic bag over the AC86U looks like its been on the router for a long time. So maybe there was a 4-year old AC86U at Amazon.